India has earned yet another feather in the cap as far as beauty pageantsgo. Mangaluru girl, Srinidhi Shetty, was crowned Miss Supranational 2016 at a grand ceremonyin Krynica Zdroj, Poland. She also won the title of Miss Asia-Oceania. Srinidhi became the second Indian to win the title after Asha Bhat in 2014. India is the first country to win Miss Supranational twice in three years.

Parliamentwill invite Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn to become the new king following the death of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej last month. Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, president of the National Legislative Assembly, said , the prince would be invited to ascend the throne after the cabinet earlier on Tuesday formally asked parliament to begin the process of installing a new monarch.

Uzbekistan’s interim leader, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has won a crushing presidential election victory to succeed the late Islam Karimov, official results show. Mirziyoyev secured 88.6% of Sunday’s vote, according to a preliminary count. The election commission chairman, Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, said the official turnout was 87.83%, with more than 17.9 million voters casting ballots.

Ex-leader of the Greens Alexander Van Der Bellen has won the Austrian presidential election, gaining 7.6 percent of votes more than his opponent Norbert Hofer. Austria held a presidential rerun between Green-backed Van der Bellen and far-right Freedom Party (FPO) candidate Norbert Hofer with the first being declared a winner with 60.4 percent of ballots against 39.6 percent received by his rival.

With the support of the Ministry of AYUSH, the World Ayurveda Foundation is organising the 7thWorld Ayurveda Congress on December 2-4 at Science City in Kolkata. The focus of the Ayurveda Congress will be “Strengthening the Ayurveda Ecosystem”. The ministry has also organised AROGYA Expo from December 1-4 at Science City to facilitate development and growth of AYUSH system of medicine.

The government has issued directions prohibiting certain manufacturers from emitting a potentgreenhousegas with high global warmingpotential into the atmosphere, the Rajya Sabha was informed. The government has issued orders on October 13, 2016 directing manufacturers of hydro chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC-22) not to emit or vent hydro fluorocarbons (HFC-23) in the atmosphere.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that banks will have to bear the full liability in the event of any security breach or compromise in the authorised card network. Banks issuing the cards will offer the ‘payment authentication solutions’ of the respective card networks on an optional basis to their customers.

The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries have agreed to share tax information automatically as per their commitment to ensure the fairness of the international tax system. Decion in this regard was taken at the meeting of Heads of Revenue of BRICS Countries in Mumbai, Maharashtra. They have reaffirmed their commitment to prevent of base erosion and shifting of profits (BEPS), exchange of tax information and capacity building of developing countries.

OBITUARY

First Asian-American to win Olympic gold passed away at 96

Sammy Lee, a two-time Olympic gold medal-winning diver who later mentored four-time Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis, has died. He was 96. The University of Southern California said that Lee died of pneumonia in Newport Beach. He was the school’s oldest living Olympian. Lee became the first man to win consecutive Olympic titles in platform diving in 1948 and 1952 and was the oldest diver at age 32 to win Olympic gold.

Veteran poet and former Rajya Sabha MP Bekal Utsahi passed away at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. He was admitted in the hospital on December 1 following brain haemmorhage. He was 88. Utsahi was awarded the Padmashree in 1976 for his contribution to literature. He was also honoured with Yash Bharti by the UP government.

Former Madhya Pradesh governor Bhai Mahavir passed away in Delhi after brief illness. He was 94. Mahavir served as the Madhya Pradesh governor from April 1998 to May 2003. Born on October 30, 1922 in Lahore, Mahavir joined RSS as Pracharak and had also served as the member of the Rajya Sabha for two terms.